Alamo man pleads guilty to violating Iran sanctions, tax evasion
ALAMO – An Alamo man has pleaded guilty to charges of violating sanctions by exporting software upgrades for commercial-grade telecommunications servers to the Islamic Republic of Iran and for tax evasion.
The U.S, Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced Tuesday that a judge accepted guilty pleas from 70-year-old Farhad Nafeiy.
Nafeiy pleaded guilty to a violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Under IEEPA, the President of the United States has authority to address unusual and extraordinary threats to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, the President has issued orders prohibiting certain activities and transactions with Iran and the Government of Iran.
Prosecutors said Nafeiy obtained licenses, or approvals, from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control for advising non-Iranian telecommunications companies on doing business with Iran.
But prosecutors said those licenses didn't authorize Nafeiy to provide any hardware, software, or technology directly to Iran. Nafeiy exceeded his OFAC licenses, thereby violating IEEPA and Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR).
Nafeiy also broke the sanctions by providing software upgrades to telecommunications equipment in Iran.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Nafeiy admitted in his plea agreement he knew he exceeded these licenses when he did so. Nafeiy also admitted the total amount of sales of such software upgrades to Iran was approximately $400,000.
Nafeiy also admitted to evading his federal income taxes, and specifically not paying income tax on some of the proceeds of these sales.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin scheduled Nafeiy's sentencing hearing for Jan. 29.
Nafeiy faces prison terms varying from five to 20 years on each count and maximum fines ranging from $250,000 to $1 million for each offense. He also faces paying more than $79,000 to the IRS in restitution.